This article presents a unified theory of polarity-sensitive items (PSIs) based
on the notion of domain widening. PSIs include negative polarity items (like
Italian mai ‘ever’), universal free choice items (like Italian qualunque
‘any/whatever’), and existential free choice items (like Italian uno qualunque
‘a whatever’). The proposal is based on a ‘‘recursive,’’ grammatically driven
approach to s... hiện toàn bộ
Elided VPs and their antecedent VPs can mismatch in voice, with passive VPs
being elided under apparent identity with active antecedent VPs, and vice versa.
Such voice mismatches are not allowed in any other kind of ellipsis, such as
sluicing and other clausal ellipses. These latter facts appear to indicate that
the identity relation in ellipsis is sensitive to syntactic form, not merely to
semant... hiện toàn bộ
Although they participate in control relations, implicit arguments are
standardly viewed as unprojected ϑ-roles, absent from the syntax. I challenge
this view and argue that implicit arguments are syntactically represented. The
argument rests on the observation that implicit arguments can exercise partial
control, and the claim that partial control must be encoded in the syntax (given
plausible as... hiện toàn bộ